Neopan 1600; Grain and tonal scale.

waynecrider · May 5, 2005

Whilst looking thru the Cookbook I ran across a quote concerning Neopan 1600's true speed to be around an EI of 650. Since I was about to make a Delta 400 purchase, I thought, hey an EI of 650's good, but then what about grain and the tonal scale So I ask, what have you found for this film in your developers. Basically I need a faster street film and appreciate slightly more contrast at times. Thanks

gchpaco · May 5, 2005

Neopan 1600 is my favorite fast film. It's almost like a 400 speed film in terms of grain and tonality, although of course you pay for that by it not being as fast as the dedicated ones. This photo and this one were both shot on Neopan 1600; it's too small for you to judge grain well but you can probably get a feel for tonality.

Jordan · May 7, 2005

One of my favourite "Photobloggers" out there is Hosaka from Japan at Dead Link Removed His site has many wonderful examples of Neopan 1600 printed conventionally. The web is never an ideal way to evaluate combos like this but you can at least get a sense of what is possible.

Tom Stanworth · May 8, 2005

It is very happy at 800 in DDX with nice low contrast and dead easy to print. I will be increasing speed to get less shadow detail for indoor or low contrast work, but still use 800 or so for avge contrast I think-early days.

In DDX is has smooth grain which is not that big at all, but less crisp than HP5 by a considerable margin. It therefore gives great 'soft' portraits of kids (my experiences) with smooth tones and esp in high values, very smooth skin tones as it seems to lack the salt/pepper grain (ie dark spots) that many films have.

I am going to try it with some dev with more edge, perhasp Acutol or FX39, which supposedly give good acutance and speed to see what happens.

Great fast film, but as I say, tonality over bite. HP5 has far greater acutance, like for like and is not too far behind in speed, maybe 1/2 stop to stop tops.

Tom

Nicole · May 8, 2005

I like using Neopan 1600 and 400.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) is an example of Neopan 1600 exposed at box speed and developed at 1600 box speed with gentle agitation.

If I'm after a more contrasty look I can easily adjust it in the print process or I could agitate more if I want a more contrasty look on the negative itself.

i often decide to go for a better tonal range on the neg for more latitude.

I am very impressed with Neopan's grain, which is much finer than trying to push TriX400 by 1-2 stops.

FWIW - The link didn't work so I'm adding the image as an attachment.

skahde · May 8, 2005

Expect grain like you are used to from a conventional film at 400 ASA. When you develope to a normal contrast, deepest shaddows will get a bit thin but highlights are well controlled. Speed as measured with respect to zone I is about the same as with neopan 400 in my hands, but the rest of the curve is markedly different, with a steep rise untill zone III and a stronger shoulder. A very nice charcteristic for available light where deepest shaddows are pitch black anyway and higlights may be peoples faces or clothing where everyone expects to find some detail. I liked it a lot indoors during the dark season.

Stefan

John Sparks · May 8, 2005

This is by far my favorite film in 35mm. I generally shoot it at 800. It has a pretty short toe, so shadows go quickly to very black. Because of this, I don't think it pushes very well and the speed doesn't change with different developers. Delta 3200 and Tmax 3200 are better if you need more speed than 800. It has very fine grain for a fast film, more like 400 speed films than the 3200 speed films.

waynecrider · May 8, 2005

Thanks everyone for the links and info. It seems the gist is that it blocks up fast but keeps the highlights.

Nicole, what developer are you using?

Nicole · May 8, 2005

Wayne I used Xtol at full strength with that negative.

skahde · May 9, 2005

waynecrider said:
It seems the gist is that it blocks up fast but keeps the highlights. Nicole, what developer are you using?

Wayne, another vote for XTol here. But what do you mean by "blocking up but keeping the highlights"? Sounds contradictionary to me and I'm not sure what you mean.

Nicole · May 9, 2005

Wayne, I am no expert on this film but from my own experience Neopan works beautifully in open shade and less contrasty conditions. But so many factors come into play and it's not just the lighting you need to control. It can lose the highlights just as quick as the shadows, depending on, well, everything.
Go and give it a good run and see what you think.
Cheers
Nicole

waynecrider · May 9, 2005

skahde said:
Wayne, another vote for XTol here. But what do you mean by "blocking up but keeping the highlights"? Sounds contradictionary to me and I'm not sure what you mean.

It's just me and my strange vocabulary. I meant that the shadows go dark in the print.

Neopan 1600; Grain and tonal scale.

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